Under Rain
by Liza Taylor
Summary: Aria makes a surprising annoucement in class one day. She's going on a quest. What will Orland do in light of this? A Rune Haven Contest entry. OrlandXAria.


**Another entry for the Rune Haven contests! This one is for the theme "Rain". It takes place ten years after the events of RF2 and it's an OrlandXAria fic. Enjoy!**

**Note: Sorry if Orland is a bit OC. I haven't played RF2 in forever(and I lost my copy of it so I can't replay it either).**

She was the bravest girl he had ever known.

She had fought Fiersome when she was merely seven and won. She had saved her father even when all seemed lost. She had a ridiculous amount of courage and strength. So it was no surprise to Orland, at least in the head, when Aria made an announcement in the beginning of class.

"Everyone," spoke the seventeen year old young woman from the front of the class. In the ten years since her battle with Fiersome she had grown up in the body department but her personality was still the same from ten years ago. "I have an announcement to make." She moved her brown eyes until she saw each student in the classroom in turn. Orland looked down at the book he was reading about complex equations and turned the page.

Aria took a deep breath. "I'm going to go travel the world."

Orland almost dropped his book and the rest of the small class was in an uproar.

"You can't be serious Aria," said Leann quietly.

"You know me Leann," said Aria. She put her hands on her hips. "Crazy Aria who goes into dungeons without a care in the world. That's me!"

"You can say that again," murmured Barett from behind the teacher's desk. He looked bored but he was paying attention to everything that was going on.

"But that means we will never see you again!" cried Sera.

"Don't worry," said Aria. "I won't be gone forever. I'll be back."

"But Yue and Kyle will miss you!" put in Serena.

"Mom and Dad understand," said Aria.

"But won't you be lonely?" asked Leonel.

"I'll have Silvera with me," she replied. "Plus mom said I'd meet a lot of people out there." She reached down and strapped her rune sword to her back and put on her rucksack. She bowed to the class. "I thank you for teaching me Barett. And thank you everyone for being my friend." After a pause she added, "And keeping a secret that I was wandering around dungeons when I was seven." Everyone laughed in the room except for Orland who turned a page in his book. "I should really get going. Since it's going to rain today, I want to hit the road before it gets too bad and mom forces me not to."

Cries of farewell ran through the small class. Cammy and Roy weren't there for they had graduated a couple of years ago. Leann sniffed as tears began falling from the young woman's eyes.

Aria slowly walked past the row of desks, only stopping in front of Orland's. "See you later," she said.

"Uh huh," replied Orland. He turned the page of his book. This was quite interesting. The equations were pretty complex. He could hear Aria turn and walk away. He heard the door close and then as if they were drawn to him, the rest of the class was suddenly around Orland's desk. He glanced up to see Leann was standing directly in front of him. For probably the first time in her life, her shy quiet face was gone. It was replaced by a determined serious one that just looked wrong on sweet Leann. "Orland, how could you?"

"Huh?"

"That was really cold Orland," put in Leonel.

"What are you talking about?" asked Orland. He gestured to Barrett in the front of the room who was writing things on the blackboard. "Class is going to begin soon."

"He's so dense," sighed Sera.

"Or in denial," said Serena.

Leann grabbed Orland's book and yanked it out of her hands.

"Hey!" Orland tried to reach up to grab it but Leann backed up a step. Orland got up and realized that he was shorter than Leann at the moment. It was probably those heels she was wearing.

"I'm not giving it back until you go out there and tell her how to feel," said Leann.

"What are you talking about?" snapped Orland. He was really getting annoyed now.

Leann looked down sadly at Orland. "Orland. If you don't tell her now, how will she know?"

Orland froze in his tracks and glanced over at the rest of the class. Leonel was smiling and the twins were nodding. It's like they had all planned this and had conspired against him. He looked at the ground. "Was it that obvious?"

Leann smiled and nodded. She gestured for the door. "Go."

Orland looked over at Barrett. Their teacher just smiled slightly and gestured for Orland to go. The blond half-elf jumped to his feet and ran outside. The rain was already pouring and in a few seconds Orland was drenched to the bone. He didn't care though. He ran in the direction of the village exit and spotted Aria ahead of him wearing a cloak that didn't let the rain touch her. By her side was Silvera, her silver wolf. Her fur was plastered against her sides from the rainfall but she didn't mind. Silver wolves were from a snowy region after all. A little rain didn't bother them. The wolf's ears flicked and she paused and looked back at Orland as he approached.

"Orland," stated Aria looking back to see what Silvera was staring at. She had a look of surprise on her face. "What are you doing out here? You're going to catch a cold."

Orland sucked in deep breaths. "Aria, I…" The rain pounded in his ears. "I…"

The young woman turned fully in Orland's direction. "Orland," she said quietly, her voice drowned out by the pounding rain.

Orland tightened his fists. "Aria, I…" The rest of his words were drowned out by the sound of the rain slamming angrily against the earth.

"What?" called Aria.  
"Aria! You better come back you hear me!" cried Orland. "Cause I…cause I…" He trailed off as Aria walked over to him and pressed her lips to his before backing away. He could feel his face turning bright red and he looked away from her.

Aria on the other hand was smiling now. "Don't worry," she said happily. "I'll be back." The rain seemed to subside as she climbed onto Silvera's back. The wolf broke into a swift trot but Aria expertly balanced herself and turned around to wave at Orland.

"You better come back or I'm going to have to punish you with bookwork!"

"Don't worry!" called Aria as she got farther and farther away. "I will come back!"

Orland stood there on the path until Aria was only a speck in the distance. He then turned to head back to the school, just realizing how cold he was in his wet clothes and how he would probably catch a cold at this rate. He looked up to the sky and saw a huge rainbow spread across it. She was probably seeing it on the back of that wolf of hers as well. "Well," he commented. "I should probably go study on fighting monsters."


End file.
